


The damned shoes

by october_lady



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Red Queen Week, Red Queen Week 2017, red queen ouat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 04:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12499072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/october_lady/pseuds/october_lady
Summary: Ruby finally finds the magical slippers and wishes to be with her love, Dorothy. Or so she thinks.





	The damned shoes

**Author's Note:**

> I felt bad that I only wrote two stories due to time issues so I decided to write more. I apologise if there are mistakes or it feels rushed, I literary wrote this in under an hour because it's late again and ugh, time issues are a real thing...

Finally. She was finally holding them in her hands. The magical ruby slippers. How fitting was the name, she rolled her eyes.

 

It took her a long time to get a hold of them, items that let you travel through realms aren’t exactly easy to find these days. You have to bribe and pay people to even give you any sort of information as to where to find them, sometimes you have to fight, for someone else or for your life. But here she was, in the farthest corner of Oz, ready to put them on and click them three times.

 

She couldn’t wait to be with the woman she loved. She couldn’t wait to see her smile. She had no idea if her love felt the same way, they only just met before they lost each other again but she felt such desire and affection to Dorothy that she didn’t care. She had to try.

 

Ruby put the shoes on. How shiny they look. So red, like a heart, full of love.

 

Closing her eyes, she focused on the place she wanted to go.

 

_ Click. _

 

_ The love of my life. _

 

_ Click. _

 

_ The love of my life. _

 

_ Click. _

 

_ The love of my life. _

 

She felt wind swirling strongly, catching her and moving her, it was as if she were still standing but she could tell things around her were moving. And then it all stopped. There was ground under her feet again.

 

“Ruby?” 

 

A familiar voice told her she landed. Ruby frowned. That was not the voice she expected.

 

“Regina?” She opened her eyes surprised. “What am I doing here?” She looked around, being all confused when she recognised Regina’s living room.

 

“You are asking me that? You tell me, dear, you are the one who appeared in my living room. Well, we are in Underworld but technically it’s still my house.”

 

“Oh so that’s why everything is orange, I thought my eyes have gone bad during the traveling.”

 

“Funny, as always,” Regina rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch. “So, care to tell me where you were supposed to go when it was not here?” She took a sip of the wine she had put on the table.

 

Ruby took it as a sign and sat down as well. Then she turned serious and her face went pale. Or as pale as it could go in this world.

 

“Regina, are you... dead?” Her voice was shaky, her heart was pacing and the thought hurt so much.

 

The older woman started to laugh.

 

“Regina! What the hell!”

 

“Sorry, dear, I suppose that’s a logical question. No,  _ Ruby _ ,” it was like velvet when she said her name, “I’m not dead, even tho I’d rather be right now. We are all here because Emma decided to bring her dead pirate back and we couldn’t let the idiot go alone.”

 

“Oh thank god! You got me so worried!” The relief was visible on Ruby’s face, she finally relaxed into the chair.

 

“Oh please, don’t pretend like you still care. It’s all history now.” Regina took a long sip of her wine, mostly just to cover her face with the glass.

 

“Regina…” Ruby’s voice was silent, firm, yet there was a hint of hurt, “I do care about you, I always have and always will, no matter where I am. You changed my life, you saved me from myself and you taught me to love myself the way I am. The many parts of myself I used to hate. We helped each other through difficult times and I like to think it was more than just that.” She felt silent. She didn’t understand why it all made her so upset, Regina belittening what had been between them and accusing her of not caring for the older woman anymore. 

 

She could never forget the long nights filled with tears, fear and self hatred. The nights when Regina found her in woods, sometimes still in her wolf form, sometimes naked after she turned back. She had no control and no idea how to deal with it, she felt like a monster, like an animal that kills. Yet every time she woke up from this trance, every time she ran away in any form, Regina was always there. She always found her, held her when she cried, healed her wounds she caused herself while fighting with other animals. She was there to lift her up when she had no will to live, she just held her and let her cry, or sleep in her arms, stroking her long dark hair.

 

She could never forget when they first kissed, Ruby all scared of what she was doing, this was not right, this was not what she was taught. But Regina made it feel so good, so okay, much better than she had ever felt with Peter, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

 

And so she learned to like herself, to love herself and to want to live. And when she was feeling better, she was there for Regina to battle her mother, to support her, to help her with magic. She sneaked into her chambers at night to hold her tight after Cora bullied Regina, after she hurt her over and over again. 

 

Together they became stronger.

 

Maybe too strong in Regina’s case.

 

She became the evil queen. She embraced dark magic, something she resented her mother for.

 

They drifted apart.

 

They spoke in Storybrooke, they were friendly. Ruby secretly forgave her. But that was all.

 

“Let’s go back to our, well, your, problem. Where were you meant to land?” Regina changed the subject quickly.

 

“I… fell in love. I think…” Ruby mumbled.

 

“You think?” Regina raised her eyebrow, amused.

 

“It’s complicated.” She ignored her. “I think the damn shoes are broken because I was thinking about Dorothy so I don’t know what happened!”

 

“The shoes can’t just  _ break _ . You must have done it wrong. What exactly were you thinking?”

 

“Does that matter now?” She wriggled in her chair, clearly not wanting to say it to Regina.

 

“If I am supposed to help you, then yes. Come on, dear, I’ve spent enough time with Snow and David to be surprised by anything so spill it,” she rolled her eyes.

 

“I was thinking  _ The love of my life. _ ” 

 

Regina chewed on her lip. “And you landed here?”

 

“Well, yes?” Ruby was confused by Regina stating the obvious.

 

“You were thinking the words ‘ _ The love of my life’ _ and you landed right in front of me?” Regina was just clarifying, not sure if for herself or Ruby.

 

“Yes, how many times - Oh God…” Ruby’s eyes went wide. “Oh God…” She got up from the chair.

 

“Indeed…” Regina just shook her head, almost equally surprised.

 

“Does that mean…?” Ruby trailed off.

 

“Yes.” The older woman responded as a matter of fact.

 

“But that means that Dorothy…”

 

“Yes.” 

 

“But that means that you…” Ruby was clearly doing her math trying to figure it out.

 

This time Regina didn’t answer. She blushed a bit, trying to hide behind the glass again.

 

“Regina, say something, please…” Ruby quickly sat down next to her.

 

“What do you want me to say?” Regina didn’t know what to say. She was unsure. She wasn’t sure what it all meant, how to react. And she hated talking about feelings.

 

“Are we really meant to be?” Ruby whispered, fear in her voice, afraid and ready to be heart broken.

 

That did it for Regina, she could never handle seeing the younger woman in pain. She smiled at her. She gave her a soft smile with sparkling eyes. And then she leaned forward and connected their lips. It was an innocent kiss, lasting just few seconds but telling more than words ever could.

 

“I think so.”


End file.
